Let’s Look Back at Singled Out, the Best Dating Show Ever

In 1995, a little MTV dating show premiered and changed our very lives (or at least amused us greatly for 30 minutes a week). Singled Out was hosted by a very young, very floppy-haired Chris Hardwick and featured a very young, very pre-vaccination nonsense Jenny McCarthy (and later Carmen Electra). Today, we have The Bachelor and Bachelorette, shows that only wish they could serve us ’90s realness like Singled Out did, so let’s celebrate the vastly superior program. Here are all the reasons Singled Out was the best dating show ever.

Day one of the first show that we’re taping, we’re all rushing around through makeup. Everyone’s freaking out because we don’t know if the show’s gonna, you know, it’s the first day of taping. We’re waiting for Jenny. She hasn’t come out yet. What’s happening? You know, is she having a famous moment? What’s going on? After about 15 minutes, this shock of blonde hair pops out of the door. She’s like, “Excuse me. Does somebody have a plunger?” She had clogged her toilet and spent, like, 15 minutes trying to figure out how to deal with it before she asked for help. And I feel like that really encapsulates what Singled Out was like.”

My boyfriend, who I brought with me — I had the stomach flu, and I was like, “I have to work in the morning, I’m not staying up and watching you, so blow out those candles when you’re done.” I put my candle on top of hot rollers, and it literally melted the thing, melted the wall, melted the ceiling, went into the bedroom. I was woken up by a guardian angel screaming at me in my dream, which I still remember. We got out of the room. The fire department said five more minutes, we would’ve been dead.

Contestants were brought out in Eyes Wide Shut masks.

MTV

This prevented them from seeing the throngs of potential love interests.

And a lot of those love interests dressed pretty wacky.

MTV

MTV

Some of the wacky was for TV attention, some of it was just your general ’90s fashion. It wasn’t a great time for looking good.

They got down to the hard-hitting questions you really want to know about a potential paramour.